Thoughts on the Throne Speech – nuke it.

Posted by Scott Tribe on October 17, 2007, at 2:40 pm |

My position on wanting the Liberals to vote en masse against the Throne Speech hasn’t changed, despite the lack of an obvious poison pill. The Conservatives made several priorities and statements that simply do not jive with current Liberal philosophy – be that on Afghanistan or the environment, or the federal spending power, etc. I still believe if you’re the Liberals, you need to vote against this on principle and take it to the people why you’re against it on principle.

For some more comprehensive analysis on why the Liberals should go and defeat this now, I recommend Rob’s and Steve’s blogposts for further reading.

UPDATE: H/T to Darren for this story: It appears that Dion hasn’t told his caucus yet how he intends to vote. It will certainly make for good theater if that’s the case.

10 comments to Thoughts on the Throne Speech – nuke it.

Wow sez: If his real concern was the planet and not his and the liberal’s greasy hides, he should have toppled the government.

Thanks fer confirmin’ that Harper’s plans are anti-Earth. Yer sayin’ them who’s really concerned about the planet need to work against Harper. Yer slammin’ Dion because he didn’t vote against Harper’s anti-Earth policies.

I think Dion made a mistake an’ he shoulda voted down the throne speech. He looks weaker than before an’ he already looked weak. It was a Catch-22 situation, though, an’ Dion couldn’t make a choice that wouldn’t open him up to criticism. I’m glad to see that Wow’s criticism at least concedes Harper’s anti-environmental stance.

This is hilarious, the libs show that their only concern is to be in power, everything else is a just tool to achieve that power.
Dion sure got a big bite taken out of his ass today by Kyoto, (the treaty, not the dog). If his real concern was the planet and not his and the liberal’s greasy hides, he should have toppled the government.
But anyone who honestly looks at the libranos can see that their only motivation is power.

The speech was drivel with a lot of defunct philosophy thrown in for bad measure… In committee the opposition rules, so send it all to committte and make the CPoC eat the changes. Legally, the opposition controls the committees and what the bills look like before parl. Waiting to defeat the government puts control in the opposition’s hands.

Well, as tepid as the speech was, with the usual rose-coloured generalities and thistled branches to irritate the opposition, I am of the mind that letting it pass — no vote on a throne speech in Canadian history has led to an election — and prepare to let the CONs show more of their cards in the house. That’s where they’ve proven to be truly inept, and their machievallian missteps have weakened their credibility, at least during the last sitting.An election would present a great opportunity to tear down the image created by the CONs, but would the media allow that to happen? They are already stuck in the cycle of ‘What’s wrong with Dion?’ and not bothering to ask the same question of the Suprememe Leader.But I’m backing my guy no matter which way he goes. Seems like the CONs have done a good job at turning us inwards and upside down, doncha think?

After reading portions of Dion’s speech (and prefacing that I initially agreed with the need for an election) I think the right thing was done here. Basically, if the Liberals can forcefully tell Harper to shove his Majority-style tactics up his ass and force a debate on each piece of confidence legislation that he puts forth it will allow the Liberals and Dion to demonstrate to the country just exactly how the Liberals and Cons deviate from each other.

Forcing an election over a very vague throne speech would allow Harper to role out very specific policies that he could then turn around to the voting public and say "Dion and the Liberals oppose this because it was in our throne speech"…..By making Harper defend each piece of legislation he is robbed of such a tactic should an election be trigger over one particular item.

Now, from an NDP prospective (put on my partisan hat for a second) now is the best time for an election. However, that would set this country back by a few years because it would throw the "left" into a bit of disarray, split the Lib/NDP vote and allow more Conservatives to be elected. As much as I dislike the majority of Liberals and their policies, I dislike Harper and Co’s even more.

All of this might result in an election triggered over the next piece of legislation put forth by the Cons, however, the Liberals are better off demonstrating that they are willing to be forceful and hold the minority Conservative Government in check…….

Whoa whoa whoa – hold on a second. Are you saying that in the current minority situation, the primary concern for Liberal MPs should be what is good for the Liberal Party? Because it is possible that there are some things that another party would suggest that would still be good for Canadians.

Your entire framing of the issue exposes the fact you put partisanship above all else, by which I mean if the exact same position on a particular issue was taken by a Liberal instead of a Tory, you would defend it or at least be silent on it. But merely because it comes out of Harper’s mouth, you oppose it.
Please, keep pushing for an election. I’m all for testing all these assumptions about Dion’s ability to perform when it counts.

Whooee! Dion ain’t doin’ hisself any favours by dodgin’ an election. He already looks weak an’ that just makes him look weaker. The idea that the throne speech is a confidence issue is unprecedented. No Canajun gummint ever fell on the throne speech. Harper’s contention that it’s a confidence issue is pure brinksmanship. Harper’s buddies, the rotten separatist BlocHeads are helpin’ their separatist comrade put the screws to Dion.

The Conservatives are not doing a good job of managing Afghanistan. Not only are they not fighting corruption required to development of good governance in Afghanistan, they are sending the wrong message with their handling of the prisoner abuse case. The Conservatives are not only not working to meet the Kyoto green house gas reductions. They are encouraging the rest of the world to ignore the necessary green house gas reductions. They simply don’t understand the economic benefits provided by improved energy efficiency. And this is not even covering abuses, over spending during the last election, not allowing free questions by the press, hiding excessive travel spending by MPs. The Conservatives are responsible, it you ignore the facts they are trying to hide.

Actions speak loader than words. The actions of Harper’s Conservatives are the Poison pill.